45. VANYA: THE MEDIA

Iris.
My half-sister was still alive and completely unaware of the blood we actually shared. How will she react when she finds out that I’m not her cousin but her sister? Would she want to know about Mom? What if she asked about Darial?
“Vanya—”
“I want to go back to the hotel,” I interrupted him.
Without waiting for a reply, I turned away and followed the stone path. He fell into step next to me but made no move to touch me.
“If I knew that following Melanie’s orders would make you hate me, I would never have agreed to do it,” he rasped. “Melanie has always been a good friend, even when she barely knew us. She helped me with the nightmares and taught me how to control the panic and fear when it came to being surrounded by humans. I wanted to thank her and helping her keep both of you safe was the only way I knew how.”
If she hadn’t died, would all the secrets still be buried? Would I have ever started a relationship with the three of them? Would Mom still be married to Reeves? Would I be bonded to Obsidian?
“Is there any more I need to know?” I asked him. “Please tell me before I hear it from someone else.”
“Monica is your aunt by blood. She knows everything.”
My eyes snapped up to his. “Everything?”
“Everything,” he confirmed. “Melanie told her everything when she asked her to take Iris.”
“I haven’t met her before,” I muttered. “I would’ve remembered her, wouldn’t I?”
“You’ve met her. She left the island after Melanie married Reeves. You’ve been sick and mostly out of it until recently so you haven’t officially met her. Once you do I’m sure that you’ll remember.”
I wasn’t ready for any more memories to return. After the things I saw and learned, I wouldn’t be able to handle any more until I worked through what I remembered. What if Monica was just as bad as Reeves?
I shivered as the thought flashed through my mind. My family’s name had been ruined because of Reeves and to add another bad name to it would just destroy everything Mom had stood for before she died.
“Is she…” I trailed off, unable to voice the question in a way that he would understand.
“Is she what?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
The rest of the walk was made in silence. Somewhere along the way, Obsidian had taken hold of my hand again. My mind felt a lot calmer whenever he touched me but I wasn’t going to admit that to him. I was pissed at him for lying to me. He could have told me before I found out from someone else.
Obsidian’s hand tightened around mine when we entered the lobby. It was packed with people and not just any random people waiting to check into rooms.
“Reporters,” I whispered, eyeing the cameras some of them held. “We need to get to our room before any of them spot us.”
I tugged on his hand. The action seemed to snap him out of his frozen state. Swallowing loudly, Obsidian glanced down at me before he started moving.
“That’s one of them!” The sentence echoes around us, drawing more attention than we wanted.
“Don’t look at them,” Obsidian growled.
It was hard to follow his order because the urge to glance over my shoulder was growing stronger by the second. I could feel them behind us, closing in and snapping pictures.
Panic clawed at my throat as the shouts increased in volume. It felt like the walls were starting to close in on me as they swarmed us. An arm slipped around my waist and a second later my feet left the ground as Obsidian picked me up.
“Hold on tight,” he hissed near my ear.
One of his hands gripped my thigh after I wrapped it around his waist. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I buried my face against his neck and clung to him as he moved.
“Is it true that you are the result of a failed experiment conducted by a pharmaceutical company?”
“Where are you going with that woman?”
“Did you kidnap her?”
“Show us your claws!”
“Are you going to eat her?”
They threw questions at us, each one worse than the last. Their shouting was cut off by a door slamming shut behind us.
“Trust me?” Obsidian breathed against my ear.
I nodded without hesitation.
What he did next made me regret it. My stomach dropped to my feet when he leaped. He landed so hard that I could actually feel the impact but thankfully he stayed on his feet even though he stumbled.
“Fuck!” someone cursed from below us. “Tell them that they’re heading up. Stop them!”
A low growl fell from Obsidian’s lips, making my stomach clench. The sound was sexy and even though I knew that now wasn’t a good time, my body sure as hell didn’t give a damn.
He hooked an arm under my ass as he took one more leap and then pulled a door open a few seconds later.
I raised my head and glanced around.
“I don’t want them to follow us to the room,” he explained.
My fingers dug into his shoulders when the elevator pinged. I squirmed in his hold and ordered him to put me down. Obsidian hesitated for a few seconds before he complied. Spinning away from him, I glanced around, searching for another staircase we could take.
But it was too late. Down the hall, the elevator doors were starting to slide open.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him behind me into the only room we could hide in. It was unlocked. Pushing Obsidian inside first, I stumbled in behind him and pushed the door closed softly. My body sagged against the door. If felt like I was going to pass out.
After I had managed to calm myself down a little, I finally opened my eyes and glanced around, not that I could see much.
The cleaning closet was small, dark, and packed with cleaning supplies that had been used recently.
“How long are we going to stay in here?” Obsidian asked me.
My eyes snapped over to him. With all my attention focused on Obsidian, I could hear his ragged breathing.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “Is it the dark? I’m sure there’s a light switch somewhere.”
“It’s not the dark,” he breathed. “It’s the space.”
The space…my eyes widened when I realized what he meant. I remembered Ezra’s panic in the elevator. Was Obsidian about to have a panic attack?
I spun around and pulled the door open a few inches but immediately closed it again. “They’re standing right outside the door,” I whispered.
Obsidian muttered a curse. “I need out, Vanya.”
I gripped the door handle tighter. They were right outside, I could hear them talking. With shaky fingers, I felt around for the lock. Obsidian must have heard it slip into place because he made a sound at the back of his throat.
In an instant he was behind me, body pressed to mine as he reached around me to unlock the door.
I had no fucking idea what to do, but I knew that we couldn’t leave the room because things would get so much worse, but Obsidian was about to lose it and it scared me more than the reports waiting for us outside.
Claws scraped against my skin when he tried to remove my hand from the door handle. It made my mind snap back to the day he attacked me. I forced the memories to the back of my mind. The last thing we needed was for me to start panicking too.
“Do you trust me?” I asked him the same question he had asked me earlier.
“Yes,” Obsidian croaked. “Let me out.”
Tears filled my eyes but I blinked them away.
“Open your eyes,” I ordered him as I turned around. “I know that you can see me because of your magical eyes.”
“They’re not magical,” he hissed.
“They look magical to me.” I gave him a wobbly smile. “It kinda looks like they’re glowing which is scary but fascinating at the same time.”
His eyes darted up to the door behind me. “I feel l-like I can’t b-breath.”
“You can,” I whispered. “Focus on me, baby. Block everything else from your mind and just focus on me.”
Obsidian made a sound that sounded close to a whimper before he buried his face against my neck. His arms slipped around my waist and a moment later he picked me up again. I held my breath and slowly blew it out when he did nothing else. Wrapping myself around him, I hesitantly slipped my hand into his hair.
“Do you have a happy place?”
He shook his head.
“We’re going to find you one,” I promised, tightening my hold around him.